


Determination

by conceptofzero



Category: Fallout: New Vegas, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Video Game Mechanics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-06 14:50:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5421140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conceptofzero/pseuds/conceptofzero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Courier 6 comes to NOVAC, following the trail of the man who shot them in the head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Determination

Courier 6 comes to NOVAC, following the trail of the man who shot them in the head. There’s people there, some more useful than others. Up in the dinosaur known as Dinky, Courier 6 finds two men. Manny has information. Boone does not. 

Boone says his wife’s been taken by the Legion, says he figures somebody in town tipped them off on how to get in and steal her at night, while Boone was working. He asks Courier 6 to find who it is.

But this doesn't matter. This won’t help the Courier find Benny. So they slip out, do what Manny asks them too, kills a bunch of ghouls in robes and Nightkin lurking in the basement of a strange factory. Manny says they’re in Boulder City. So off Courier 6 goes, to find the man who shot them in the head. The dinosaur fades into the distance.

* * *

Courier 6 comes to NOVAC, following the trail of the man who shot them in the head. There’s people there, but only one that matters - Manny. He offers information in exchange for a job, but Courier 6 doesn’t need to do that. They wait until Manny goes up into the dinosaur and then they break into his room.

On the computer inside, there’s a thank you note from another Khan. Courier 6 reads it, remembers it, heads out. In a room just down a little, a man named Boone sits in a chair. But Courier 6 has other things to do. Off they go, to find the man who put them in a shallow grave. The dinosaur fades into the distance.

* * *

Courier 6 comes to NOVAC, following the trail of the man who shot them in the head. There’s people there. The courier talks to them all. The courier talks to Manny, talks to Boone. Then they talk to everyone again. 

At night, they lead a person in front of the dinosaur and put on a hat. Boone kills the person with them - a woman who Boone paid once a month to live in her motel. Courier 6 comes up to the dinosaur’s mouth and shows Boone a bill of sale. Then they ask Boone to come with them. There’s no reason to stay and nothing keeping him here, so he agrees to it.

Courier 6 and Boone head up to a rocket factory. They kill the feral ghouls and find a peaceful solution for the Nightkin and the Bright followers. He stands by the Courier’s side and watches as a dozen ghouls board rockets and travel to the stars, to find a new home. 

They leave NOVAC and head for Boulder City. Courier 6 talks to everyone they meet. They listen carefully to people, talking until there’s nothing left to say. They solve problems. They help people. Sometimes, they have to kill, but only when there’s no choice. Boone stays by their side as they bring peace to the wasteland, one conversation at a time. 

At night, they sit around campfires or curl up in empty rooms. Boone feels better than he has in years. Courier 6 is quiet and there’s something about them that brings him peace. They’re not like anyone else he’s ever met in the ruins of the world. They’re determined. 

Courier 6 talks to him too. Boone resists at first, but with time, he opens up a little. He tells them about Carla, about Bitter Springs, about his regrets. They listen, and then they help him find a sort of peace. 

He stands beside Courier 6 as they force Caesar’s Legion from the damn. The NCR stands proud and he feels like maybe they’ve done something good. He feels content. 

Courier 6 smiles the way they always do. 

* * *

Courier 6 comes to NOVAC, following the trail of the man who shot them in the head. There’s people there but they only talk to Boone. While he stands watch in Dinky, the Courier walks into the motel’s front reception and breaks into a safe. Then they wake a sleeping woman and bring her in front of the dinosaur. They put on a hat. The woman dies. They present the bill of sale to Boone. He agrees to travel with them. 

They travel the wastes. Courier 6 always knows where they’re going. Boone tries not to think about that. He just follows. They travel with a dog sometimes, or sometimes a robot. Other times, he stays at the Lucky 38 and plays cards by himself, ignoring the other people living there with him. 

Courier 6 helps out Mr. House. Boone doesn’t much like seeing the NCR get pushed out of New Vegas, but he understands why. He doesn’t have many good feelings about them these days. Not many good feelings about anyone these days. He warns Courier 6 the once to tread lightly - they’re good people, they shouldn’t be slaughtered. They tread lightly, but he finds himself staying at the Lucky 38 more often than not. 

He’s not there when Mr. House and the Courier take the dam. He’s sitting in the lounge of the Lucky 38, wishing he had something to drink. 

* * *

Courier 6 passes through NOVAC, following the trail of the man who shot them in the head. They talk to no one, except Cliff Briscoe, selling a load of guns and armour taken from the dead. Then they leave. 

Boone watches over the town with Manny. The REPCONN test site remains closed, the road full of feral ghouls and worse dangers. It haunts him, what happened to his wife, but there’s no answers he can find. No one talks to him. It’s the way he likes it. 

Legion patrols get bolder. They hear news that Nipton was burned to the ground, every last man, woman and child slaughtered. The tide’s turning against the NCR. Boone holds his post and kills who he can and waits for the day the bad news finally comes, and the Legion finally arrive on their doorstep. 

* * *

Courier 6 comes to NOVAC, following the trail of the man who shot them in the head. They talk to Manny. They talk to Boone. They solve the mystery of his wife’s kidnapping. They leave NOVAC together. 

They meet a robot in New Vegas named Yes Man. Together, they kill Mr. House. They sabotage the NCR’s plans. They sabotage the Legion’s plans. They go to Cottonwood Cove and when Boone tells the Courier that he plans on shooting any member of the Legion they see, the Courier just smiles. 

And they do shoot every Legionnaire they see. They kill their way through the camp, two people and a dog. He loses consciousness more than once, feeling the bullet piece his side, knowing this is finally it - the moment he’s been waiting for. But each time, he wakes again. Courier 6 helps him stand and heals him up, and they move again, to the next group of soldiers. They shouldn’t survive this. Two of them and a dog against an army? Two of them and a dog against Caesar himself? 

But they do. The Courier is filled with determination and they survive an impossible situation. Together, Boone and the Courier stand in the tent of Caesar, the man’s dead body lying before his throne. It won’t stop the Legion, but it’s more than Boone would have ever imagined possible. Maybe if he’d had the Courier with him the day Carla was taken…

He stands beside Courier 6 as they fight off two armies with one of their own, made of robots with rocket launchers and bombers and a dozen smaller factions. New Vegas is free from any influence, and he feels like maybe they’ve done something good. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever feel content, but this feels the closest he’s come to it in a long time. 

Courier 6 smiles the way they always do. 

* * *

Courier 6 comes to NOVAC, a bloody trail of bodies in their wake. There’s been silence for days from Goodsprings, from Nipton, from Sloan, from Primm. Boone sees them kill a merchant on the road and her two guards, and the brahmin too. They don’t even move like a human does. 

NOVAC fights. Boone stays in the mouth of Dinky, firing shot after shot. They bleed but they don’t stop. The Courier keeps moving forward, killing everything they can. They don’t even stop to loot the bodies - they just kill and move on to the next. 

Boone comes down once he loses sight of them. There’s a pile of bodies in their wake - Jeannie, Cliff, Daisy, No-bark, Ranger Andy, Alice… 

Manny’s alive still when Boone comes down. He’s firing shot after shot and the Courier comes at him with a knife. They’re quick, quicker than anyone should be, and Boone sees Manny take the blade to his chest again and again. The knife is sharp. It cuts through him like paper. 

Boone brings up his rifle and fires. He hits them-

Boone brings up his rifle and fires. He misses, barely, as they pull their head to the side just before he can hit them. He fires again and hits them-

Boone brings his rifle up and fires. He misses, barely, as they pull their head to the side. They get Manny’s body between him and them. They rush in, quick, quicker than anyone should be. 

The knife’s sharp. It’s quick. 

The town lies dead. Off Courier 6 goes, to the next sign of life on their map. 

* * *

Courier 6 comes to NOVAC, following the trail of the man who shot them in the head. They talk to everyone. They solve their problems. They make friends with Boone and take him with them. 

It’s hard to make everyone happy, but the Courier does it with a smile on their face. They heal old wounds. They soothe hurt souls. They find solutions. 

In the Lucky 38′s guest suite, Boone plays cards with Arcade and Cass. He goes out with Courier 6, helps her find Rex a new brain. Then he goes back and spends the day watching Vegas out of the 38′s windows with Raul. One by one, the Courier solves everything. One by one, the other companions move on, leaving with the Courier to finish the things that eat at them, and not needing to ever come back. 

The future seems bright. They’re on the verge of war - just waiting for the spark that’ll start the Second Battle - and yet the Courier’s busy tidying up loose ends. They go away for days at a time, returning with a smile on their face as they solve problems even further afield, off in distant craters and nuked cities. 

The Courier comes to him one day, and they head out to Bitter Springs. Under the dark of night, he tells the story of what happened that night, so long ago. Courier 6 listens, and when they spot the Legion raiding party, they fire against them, mowing them down. They redo the past, and make it right this time.

For a moment, Boone feels like maybe there is a point to living, that the future might still hold something good. He says as much to Courier 6.

They smile. Then they shoot Boone - two in the chest, one in the head. He goes down easy. They all go down easy. Courier takes Boone’s hat, heads back to the Lucky 38 to finish the rest of the companions, and then to begin moving backwards, to finish them all. 

* * *

Courier 6 comes to NOVAC, following the trail of the man who shot them in the head.


End file.
